Godalming Junior School

Godalming Junior School is a highly inclusive and caring junior school where pupils are happy, attend well and behave respectfully. This full inspection found strong standards in attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing, with safeguarding requirements met. Parents are highly positive, staff feel valued, and pupils benefit from a wide enrichment offer and strong pastoral support. The school’s culture is calm, restorative and ambitious for all pupils, including those with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and pupils known to social care. The main areas that are not yet at the same strong level are achievement and curriculum and teaching, which were judged at expected standard. Pupils generally achieve well, and reading and mathematics outcomes are often above national averages, but some gaps in basic writing skills remain and teaching approaches vary slightly across classes, meaning some pupils do not secure knowledge as deeply as they could. Disadvantaged pupils make good progress from their starting points, though published combined and reading outcomes show gaps against national non-disadvantaged averages in some measures. Leaders have accurate plans to address these issues, and the next step is to embed highly effective teaching consistently across all subjects and classes so foundational gaps are identified and closed promptly. Overall, this is a strong and inclusive school with effective governance and a clear ethos; the priority is to turn its strong foundations into consistently strong classroom outcomes for every pupil.

Strengths

• High attendance and low persistent absence across all pupil groups
• Calm, respectful and values-led behaviour culture with pupils saying they do not worry about bullying
• Wholly inclusive approach that supports SEND, disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils effectively
• Strong leadership and governance with clear ambition and precise improvement priorities
• Staff feel valued, well supported and proud to work at the school
• Highly responsive personal development and wellbeing programme, including PSHE and enrichment
• Strong pastoral support and warm relationships between staff and pupils
• Pupils are joyful, polite, safe and proud of their school
• Broad enrichment and clubs with barriers removed so all pupils can participate
• Effective transition arrangements that help vulnerable pupils settle quickly
• Reading and mathematics outcomes often above national averages

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching approaches vary slightly, so some pupils do not secure knowledge as deeply as they could
• Some gaps in pupils' basic writing skills remain
• Achievement and curriculum and teaching are at expected standard while other areas are strong
• Leaders' high curriculum ambitions are not yet fully realised in all classes
• Disadvantaged pupils' combined reading, writing and mathematics outcomes and reading outcomes show gaps against national non-disadvantaged averages
• Next steps require highly effective teaching to be consistently embedded so gaps in foundational knowledge are promptly identified and addressed

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Godalming Junior School attended 97.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 2.1% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Godalming Junior School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Godalming Junior School had 25.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 8.3% of pupils at Godalming Junior School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Godalming Junior School received £6,207 and spent £6,063 for each of its 240 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £360,000 (£1,501 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Godalming · Surrey local authority: places and applications

What is Godalming Junior School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Godalming Junior School is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Godalming Junior School last inspected by Ofsted?

Godalming Junior School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Godalming Junior School have?

Godalming Junior School has 240 pupils on roll.

What age range does Godalming Junior School cover?

Godalming Junior School for pupils aged 7 to 11.

What are Godalming Junior School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 67% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Godalming Junior School?

Godalming Junior School is at Hallam Road, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 3HW.